Recent News

The alpha version of Link-Dead is an iterative process were I might change something completely just to see how fun it is. This new build changes entirely two critical gameplay elements. First of all I unified the damage model. This means all weapons behave nearly the same when doing damage. A picture describing this can be found below. I hope this change will bring some tactical variety to the game because it is now VERY easy to die, so you'll have to be very careful about what you are doing, how you expose yourself, what gun you are fighting against etc.

Second thing is I removed weight classes and replaced it with a gradual system. This means that every piece of inventory you add affects your weight. Weight then gradually affects your movement speed, climbing speed, ability to climb walls, roll and fatigue. I hope this change eliminates artificial inventory shuffling that was done in order to stay in a given class.

This is not all. There is a couple important bug fixes and other improvements.
I added an Armor Repair Kit for Einheriar. It means you can now weld your damaged armor!

There are also some visual & audo improvements. Step sounds are completely remade and sound a lot nicer. They were done by a proffesional (LD's musician Maciej Stankiewicz). But most importantly there are new BLOOD decals:

You can download this game for any donation for my game development right now.

IMPORTANT: When you first run this version be sure to change your Sneak Toggle button to Z or any other key you want. If you don't do this it is probably the same button as melee (Shift).

IMPORTANT 2: If the game fails to auto-update, please go to the LD folder and rename LD.bak to LD.exe.

The SNES port isn't a joke. Well almost. You can turn the SNES mode on if you change the resolution to something low like: 320x200. To do this open Scripts/autoconfig.gm and edit v_width & v_height.
Meet you on the servers.

Here is the complete changelog.
Changes 1991-1999:

[general]
- added Armor Repair Kit for Einheriar
- changed soldier/bullet collision; hands don't block chest and head
- removed weight classes; weight affects speed and movements gradually
- separated sneak form aiming; sneak is now toggle with (default Z) key
- soldier can walk and patch
- melee and punch now execute fully when tapped fire
- corpse stays longer if is being hit
- recoil doesn't move mouse

[effects]
- new reworked foot step sounds
- jump sounds based on material

[visuals]
- new blood decals
- visual modifications and fixes on Factory map

[bugs]
- map edge lines not drawn on glass edge
- fixed bullet collisions after passing glass
- fixed spear collisions
- fixed ragdoll death forces
- synchronized blood particle with blood wall paint
- fixed attached parts getting stretched too much on lag
- fixed grabbing floor from below
- fixed not being able to strike with buttstock close to enemy

[balance]
- new unified damage system (all guns modified)
- increased gravity on all lead & shotgun bullets

[other]
- new easter egg
- disabled blood map decal drawing on minalist preset
- console messages are timestamped


Last but not least. A week ago I asked Prince to write a song about the new Link-Dead build. Being a fan of my games he happily made a new song called "build 1999". Enjoy:

Hard times have come. As you know the PC market is on the verge of death as more and more gamers switch to consoles. In a desperate attempt to gain some share of this market I have been secretly porting Link-Dead. I can finally reveal the Link-Dead: Super Nintendo port.

Watch the video I recorded. It is running 100% on the original Nintendo machine at 30 FPS. This is the second game in history to make use of the SNES mouse. The video isn't high quality but that is what you can expect from a TV signal. I first had recorded this via rf on vcr, and then recorded on dvd, and then prerecorded on dvd by converting rca to vga and then back to rca for up/down sampling the signal. Just imagine how much the signal has been damaged due to the rca cable and the constand adc & dac conversion. This is what has been left off from original source. Enjoy.

I'm not gonna make you wait anymore.

This version is a work in progress (well, all alpha versions are...). I spent a lot of time working on new ragdoll physics code and grabbing your opponent in this version. Unfortunately I overestimated my abilities and it was a tough battle. I had to disable the grabbing because it was too buggy (so head cutting is disabled for now too). I will add it later because there is still a lot of new features and modifications that you can play right now. 

It seems like I predicted an upcoming trend creating the Nuclear Plant map. I tweaked it some more by adding more sniping spots in unused areas. Take a look:



The screenshot below shows a backflip. If you are light weight class, run backwards and press jump. This makes a very effective back flip, which you can use to jump on a higher platform or dodge bullets.



There is a new function called the "melee key". By holding [SHIFT] your gun turns into a melee weapon. So you can shoot an opponent and if he is in proximity quickly hold the key and buttstock smash the dude in his face! Or if you are low on ammo or desperate just throw the gun at him! (RMB + LMB).
 

CHARGE!!!

There are new running and getting punched animations.
Recoil is more natural now and works a bit different. I hope you like it.
Besides that, lots of bug fixes and tweaks. Check it out:

 Changes 1972-1990:

[general]
- Nuclear Plant map update: new sniping areas
- new improved ragdoll physics code
- spear stops at map collison on thrust
- pickaxe does not stick to ground
- moved higher FOV origin on 135 degrees
- recoil now actually moves your cursor
- gun aim affected by movement (maneuverability) more natural; not affected by cursor distance
- untied camera from gun cursor while aiming
- gun melee action is buttstock hit
- medkit doesn't patch scratches (minimal wounds)

[controls]
- default control scheme changed; switched pickup with drop; pickup (C), drop (X)
- added backflip by running backwards and jumping [JUMP](space)
- added new "melee modifier" key; hold to use gun for melee combat
- moved mercy suicide from action menu to keys [ACTION + SPEED] (Shift+E)
- gun resting only happens on pressing [AIM](RMB)
- sneaking moved to aiming key; hold [AIM](RMB)

[bugs]
- fixed no glass effect on melee weapon hit glass
- fixed head cut not available after head exploding for no reason
- fixed Glitnir stopping on glass
- fixed Glitnir shot not done on server
- fixed choke sounds looped after map restart
- fixed "Run game" second time crash
- mouse cursor does not snap to menu if mouse outside of window bounds
- fixed bots not respawning on round restart
- fixed bots memory leak
- fixed map texture leaks
- possible fix for sprites badly drawn using all frames
- fixed bullet map hit effects
- fixed grabbed animations
- fixed grabbing sync issues
- fixed ragdoll coordinates being sent on every bullet hit
- fixed being able to piss when grabbed
- fixed ragdoll plane contraints directions
- fixed net id's being overwritten after some time on server
- fixed gamemode messages when rules changed from default
- fixed crash on having drop menu open on round restart
- fixed corpse without head vomitting
- fixed FOV origin on 360 degrees
- fixed crash on adding more than 1 class in rules
- fixed soldier hanging parts stretched or invisible
- fixed redundant actor creation on server round restart
- fixed "Animation not found" bug

[visuals]
- new upper body run animation
- smoothened pickaxe strike animation
- kickback from gun kicks more
- FOV is black by default
- added melee hit animation

[effects]
- added heavy bleeding effect from fatal wound
- new punch and melee hit sound

[other]
- limited gib sound effects
- renamed "ServerPID:" to "ProcessPID:"
- added server variable "sv_ip" to bind the server to a specific IP address (along with sv_port)
- added video driver features query in Logs/system.txt
- fixed OS and vendor information in Logs/system.txt
- textures are not unique (no body decals) on minimalist preset to save memory

[balance]
- Glitnir is much heavier (slower to aim)
- all weapons are 25% heavier (slower to aim)
- all weapons recoil cut down by 50%
- crouch run is 15% slower
- heavy weight class cannot slide down wall
- buttstock hit constant damage for all guns
- can't roll when wounded


DEDICATED SERVER: Update is available too. There seems to be some bug on first start after update. Either run it a couple times until the error goes away or add this into Scripts/dedicated_autoconfig.gm:
 global sv_ip = `0`;

Changes 1990-1991:

- fixed a couple ragdoll issues
- fixed respawn & nade timers display
- fixed double left game msg on server
- renamed "ProcessPID" to "PID"
- fixed music mixer crash
- fixed jump climb bug
- gun hit angle is narrowed to more perpendicular
- block angle is reversed
- fixed climbing with [UP] pressed when just touching stairs
- fixed sprite depth sorting


Here it is, fast as lightning :). Lots of bug fixes in this patch. It's not perfect but I'll get there in the next releases.

Most important changes are:

• Camera now works differently; you can move it around most of the time instead of just when aiming; It stays in the center of your character only when moving (cause it's easier to move/climb like that)
• Running/walking movements are now smoothened and the speeds are more unified; also the player does not stick so much to the surface (this gives a new feel to the moving, I think I got rid of the awkwardness of the running from previous releases)
• Armor is much heavier; some movements like wall climbing are restricted only to light classes
• Huntdown is now about hunting heads!

See change log for details 

Changes 1969-1972:

[general]
- wide view is now default; view is limited when moving
- aiming with weapon slightly zooms the view
- action menu can be used at any time now
- guns and pickaxe have more mass and are slower when thrown
- weapon throw aiming is twice faster
- weapon can be only thrown after aiming delay
- FOV 135 is further from player now
- gravity is 15% lower
- added short description on weight slider
- smoothened running animation transitions on slopes
- smoothened run/walk animations
- when running on lower slope character doesn't stick but flies a bit
- unified run/walk/back slope speeds
- holding [DOWN] (S) key drops through all platforms and stairs
- special rolls and flips are restricted to light class only

[bugs]
- fixed client & server ragdoll crash
- clamped mouse cursor to screen bounds
- fixed secondary gun having disabled lasersight and flashlight
- fixed grenades on belt exploding
- fixed slide, piss and choke sounds being played infinitely after map restart
- fixed throw gun collisions
- fixed invisible weapon dropped from backpack
- throw weapon does not get stuck in ceiling on throw
- fixed FOV optimization bug
- fixed FOV errors on scoped distances
- fix server crash on weapon fire
- fixed crashing if no bot files are present
- fixed inventory render crash
- fixed glitch on jumping sideway on a slope
- fixed laser stopping on glass
- fixed climbing up wall if left and right key held together
- fixed Glitnir not passing glass
- fixed lasersight icon in action menu
- fixed Einheriar armor with black artifacts on non-shader rendering
- fixed 3 tile height fast climb animation

[visuals]
- added fixed stance and speed icons to hud
- added aiming black line (simulate visibility through muzzle)
- added acid piss fumes
- pickaxe rotates in air
- added heartbeat detector in hotkey icons (although it doesn't do anything)
- remote bomb frequency is now bright yellow in pie menu

[effects]
- limited armor fall off sounds

[rules]
- Huntdown rules change:
* Einheriar need to collect 10 heads to win
* Wasteminers need to kill all enemy units (team count multiplied by 10)
* If time limit hits none of the teams win
- added "waiting for players" text in scoreboard

[balance]
- stock recoil reduction down by 15%
- Glitnir shot now needs 75 out 100 energy points
- all armor is heavier by 0.4 points on average
- Baldr is 2.0 points lighter

[other]
- application writes process ID on start and saves it to Logs/pid.txt
- ragdoll is stabilized on start